May 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
59 
look in the glass. The fringed one, decidedly! Well 
done, Mary; the fringed white camellia is the Lest 
after all, and ladies are the best judges of form and 
beauty in flowers ; and we may talk and write as long 
as we can about our flowers, hut we cannot get over 
that. Neither can we boast of having got these, the 
best whites, from seeds : they are genuine orientals, 
and candidissima is a kind from Japan. 
White and Pink. — Duchess of Orleans and Alexina 
are decidedly the next best light ones: they are 
purely and beautifully imbricated, waxy white, with 
stripes and blotches of rosy pink or carmine, and are 
altogether the most lovely flowers one can look at. 
The “Duchess” is from the continent, and Alexina 
is an English seedling named after Alexina Low, 
only daughter of the celebrated nurseryman of that 
name at Clapton, near London, who first sold it. 
Red. — Bealii is, perhaps, one of the very best of 
the reds : it is of a deep red, and shading towards 
the centre to a light rose or salmon colour. This is 
a genuine Japanese kind, introduced to China and 
to England by Mr. Beale, after whom it is called. 
During a residence of 40 years in China, Mr. Beale 
sent over the cream of the Chinese and J apanese 
plants, if we except the Japan lilies and some other 
flne things brought over by Dr. Siebolcl. This ca¬ 
mellia is often sold under a very different name, indi¬ 
cating an English name : it is Leeana superba ; but 
it should be cancelled in our nursery catalogues, as 
nothing is so provoking on either side as to ascertain 
that you have bought or sold a plant twice over 
under two distinct names; and it is an undoubted 
error to say that Leeana superha is different from 
Bealii. Another error is perpetuated by calling this 
“ Palmer’s Bealii,” as if Mr. Palmer raised it from 
seed, when it is well known to any one who has any 
pretension to the genealogy of this tree, that Mr. 
Palmer only named it in compliment to Mr. Beale, 
in vol. ii. of Chandler’s and Booth’s splendid work 
on the camellia. Frankfortensis is another in the 
way of the last, and nearly as good; a rich rosy red, 
well marked with lighter spots of the same tint. The 
name is variously spelt in the catalogue, but the 
above is the way it is spelt by the person who raised 
it from seed in 1834—Jacob Rinz, a young friend of 
mine, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, that beautiful Ger¬ 
man town, which was fitted up last year as a national 
nursery for suckling politicians. Henri Favre, a 
French variety, and Hendersonii, an English seed¬ 
ling, are two more of the light red class of the first 
water; the latter, called after Mr. Henderson, with 
whom Mr. Appleby lives; and as they manage them 
there better than in most places, Mr. A. can put me 
light if I omit or overrate any in my list. 
Eximia and Imbricata are two of nearly the same 
shade, dark'red, veiy large flowers, and as regularly 
imbricated as an artist could make them in wax. 
Eximia is, I believe, the first of this class raised in 
England by Mr. Chandler, of Vauxhall; and there 
was a cry against it some years since as being a shy 
bloomer while in a young state, but that was owing 
to the treatment. It is only a dozen years since that 
we learned from the German gardeners that when 
young camellias are in a very vigorous state, they 
should not be potted in the spring, but not till the 
flower-buds are formed ; and the reason is this : the 
pots being crammed with roots in the spring, if the 
plants are then fresh potted, many of the sorts run 
too much to wood, and forget to make flower-buds; 
but when such plants are allowed to make their an¬ 
nual growth when cramped at the roots, they cannot 
grow so fast, and the check throws them immediately 
into bud. July is time enough to pot those camel¬ 
lias that are to flower from November to January; 
and those that bloom late in the spring may be pot¬ 
ted in September. It is true, that when these plants 
are old and full grown you may pot them any time 
in the year with almost equal advantage; but we are 
now consideiing the best management for a young 
lot, many of which are fresh seedlings of compara¬ 
tively a recent date, and, like seedling fruit-trees, re¬ 
quire a judicious treatment to bring them into regu¬ 
lar habits. On the ether hand, sickly plants of ca¬ 
mellias are often cured by being fresh potted at the 
time they begin to grow, or, say, about this time; 
then they should have one-fourth sand in the com¬ 
post, with a little peat, and receive very moderate 
watering ; but when they are not to be potted in the 
spring, and the pots are full of strong roots, you can 
hardly give them too much water for the next six 
weeks. 
This episode will make my letter more intricate, 
and I often adopt the plan on purpose, in order to 
cause young people to read them over and over again 
before they can master the subject. I have little 
notion of dressing up these letters so as that they 
may be gulped over in one swallow, like bread and 
butter. What one learns very easily is just as easily 
forgotten. Now, let us see which is the next best 
camellia. 
Imhricata alba, or White Imbricated Camellia .— 
This ought to have been classed with the Duchess of 
Orleans and Alexina, but, class it as we may, it is a 
splendid thing, white, with a rose stripe up each 
petal. I see, by a memorandum I sent to the Gar¬ 
deners Magazine in 1837, that this was my favourite 
then; but there have been since a constant stream 
of new ones of the same shape, to divide one’s atten¬ 
tion, and I have since transferred my choice to the 
fringed white, which is not very likely to have many 
rivals in my day. 
Landrethii is a German seedling, of which I first 
heaixl from Mr. Rinz, of Frankfort: he said, in 1842, 
that this was the nearest rival of his seedling Frank¬ 
fortensis, but of a lighter hue, being a clear light rose 
all over, and imbricated as regularly as Imbricata it¬ 
self. 
Ochroleuca. —This is one out of four which one of 
our readers bought lately at a sale, and inquired 
whether they were first-rate. This is the best shaped 
of the four, and is as regularly imbricated as the last. 
The colour is novel, being white, with a yellow cen¬ 
tre, like some of the tea-scented roses: but, unfortu¬ 
nately, it is not always true in its colour, the yellow 
fading off; yet it is well worthy being ranked among 
the first, as, if it should not come quite true, the size 
and shape will still be as good as in any of the best 
sorts. 
Queen Victoria, Albertii, Mutabilis, Traversii, and 
Lowii, are all of the same class; of most beautiful 
form, the colour light red, and a white stripe in each 
petal. They are, therefore, beautiful “ carnation- 
striped flowers,” which are very striking, particularly 
Albertii. When the white is quite clear, and con¬ 
fined to the stripes, I know of no flower more beau¬ 
tiful for the hair. 
Donklaeri and Tricolor are also of the same breed 
as the carnation ones above, but they are real pico- 
tees, there being no regular stripes in them, but 
mottled all over, and they are neither a good shape 
nor a regular form, and not half double; neverthe¬ 
less, I never knew any one acquainted with the sub¬ 
ject who did not class them as first-rate. Dr. Siebold 
brought the first of the Donklaeri from Japan, along 
